I was raised not to talk about how much money that you make. But today, I am going to break that rule (Sorry, Dad). Throughout my career I have been grateful to other writers, especially Kelly James-Enger, for their honestly about money and feel that although it’s a bit uncomfortable, I’m going to share as well. When I discovered that other freelancers were making six figures, I realized that it was possible for me and began to up my game. I think that as freelancers it is important to go there and talk about money (in as much detail as our contracts allow) since it really only helps the freelancing community at large.

Ok, so technically, I broke the 6 figure mark by only $300, but six figures is six figures. My goal for 2015 wasn’t to make six figures, although I have to admit that I always had it as a bucket list goal. But around June, I looked at my income total for the year and realized that I was right at $50,000 for the first 6 months of 2015 without me even trying so I made it a new goal.

At the end of November, I added it up and realized that I got to $99,900. SERIOUSLY. So I took a quick $400 job as I was heading out the door for vacation to push me over the magic line. I did a huge dance complete with a fist pump in my kitchen while my dogs stared at me like I was crazy when I realized I had reached my goal. And while I worked some weekends and nights along the way, I ended up taking six weeks almost completely off in 2015 and working only 10-15 hours a week for about another six weeks.

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I made six figures this year and haven’t come close in previous years – my best year previously was around $65K. Yes, the simple answer is that my hourly rate was higher this year than previous years, but interestingly enough I realized that there are some unconventional reasons why I believe that I made six figures this year.

1. I had fewer clients. It seems counterintuitive since on the surface it seems that you need more clients to make more money. But 2014 was one of my lower years as a freelancer income wise, and I think it was due to the fact that I had a total of 14 different 1099’s sitting on my desk in January of 2015. When you work on many small to medium projects for many different clients, you lose productivity because the first few projects always take longer as you learn the client’s expectations, tone and topics. Having long-term clients also decreases your marketing time and downtime, which also dramatically increases your income. This year I have close to half as many clients as last year, but several of my 1099’s will be for $20K.
2. I developed a high paying and in demand niche. I thought that I had a great niche with personal finance and technology, but this year I took it a step further and developed a niche in big data analytics. I added this niche to my website and LinkedIn to help promote my expertise as well. My income increased dramatically because it is an in-demand niche with very few qualified writers. Without specializing even further than general tech, I am positive that I would not have broken six figures.
3. I learned to be a better negotiator. I’m a people pleaser and want everyone to like me. While this trait has been great for developing long term client relationships, it has also caused me to significantly underprice myself on many occasions. This first step for me was to realize this about myself and be aware that my initial instinct for pricing was most likely too low.I also learned that I am much bolder in email and much less likely to agree to a low price over email than in a phone call. So whenever possible, I had all of my rate discussions over email and if someone asked for a rate over the phone I began telling them that I needed to think about it so I would send my proposal in an email in a few hours.
4. I treated my freelance writing career truly as a business. This year when people asked me what I did, I started answering “I own my own freelance writing business.” I found that this simple shift in my answer to an often asked question helped change my mindset as well. I began investing in my business by updating my website with a professional design, outsourcing more work and attending Content Marketing World.
5. I only worked with nice people. I am sensitive (OK, probably one of the most sensitive people you will ever meet) and find it very stressful to work with jerky people. And when I am stressed, then my productivity suffers significantly. On the contrary, when I work with people that I really enjoy and feel a part of a team, my productivity is off the chart and my stress level decreases dramatically. I started to not only turn down clients that were not very nice, but actually try to only work with clients whose work style and personality brought out the best in me. 
6. I made time for writing that I enjoy. For most us being a writer isn’t just our job, but also who we are. Writing is our hobby, our stress relief, our therapy and how we give back to the world. But none of these needs are fulfilled when we spend all of our time writing about ROTH IRA’s, data analytics or whatever other titillating topics that cross your desk.Over the summer, I began to submit personal essays to The Mid and found that it fed my soul (OK, I know I’m being dramatic) to write about what I wanted to write about and in my natural writing style. The pay stunk, but honestly, it was worth every minute I spent.And writing this list made me realize that I haven’t submitted an essay in a while and I need to add it to my to-do list. I am 100 percent positive that my six figure year was in large part due to me writing these essays, which helped me keep from getting burned out on the dry topics written in a business tone.

And when it comes down to it, I think that we are all much more productive when we are enjoying our job and love going to work each day, even if it just involves walking through the kitchen to our office.

What do you think contributed to making more or less money this year?